And my favorite… 60% of health-care workers do not clean their hands properly.

FYI: MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus) is a type (strain) of staph bacteria that does not respond to some antibiotics that are commonly used to treat staph infections. The resistance occurred due to over utilization of anti-biotics and bacterial adaptation. Popular Science failed to mention where the statistics originated so I can’t provide their source.

The Take Home Message: We need to be PRO-active about our health. Exercise. Eat whole foods (minimally processed). Hydrate with water. And GET ADJUSTED! The health of your nervous system (spine) is directly linked to the way you function, heal, and adapt. And please don’t forget to wash your hands…

Below are details taken directly from Consumer Reports, but the basics are this:

80% of the population suffers from Back pain (so yes there is a lucky 20% who don’t), and out of those who suffer, 88% claim it is re-occurring

Chiropractic is rated the best choice in care options by consumers with back pain

Massage and Exercise Rehab is also rated very effective

Medications and Drugs were only 22% effective!

Dr. LeGault offers two of the top choices for the most effective care in Sewickley and the surrounding area:

Chiropractic

Exercise rehabilitation and counseling

Call today and end the suffering. Discover YOUR 100%.

412-259-3828

“About 80 percent of the adults in the U.S. have been bothered by back pain at some point. The Consumer Reports Health Ratings Center recently surveyed more than 14,000 subscribers who experienced lower-back pain in the past year but never had back surgery. More than half said the pain severely limited their daily routine for a week or longer, and 88 percent said it recurred throughout the year.

Lower-back pain disrupts many aspects of life. In our survey, 46 percent said that it interfered with their sleep, 31 percent reported that it thwarted their efforts to maintain a healthy weight, and 24 percent said that it hampered their sex life.

Where to go for treatment?

A surprising number of the lower-back-pain sufferers we surveyed said they were disappointed with what their primary-care doctor could do to help. Although many of our respondents who saw a primary-care doctor left dissatisfied, primary-care doctors can write prescriptions and give referrals for hands-on treatments that might be covered by health insurance. When back pain goes on and on, many people go to see a primary-care doctor. While this visit may help rule out any serious underlying disease, a prescription based solution affects long-term quality of life.

Who helped the most?

The percentage of people highly (completely or very) satisfied with their back-pain treatments and advice varied by practitioner visited.

Professional —————– Highly satisfied

Chiropractor 59%

Physical therapist 55%

Acupuncturist 53%

Physician, specialist 44%

Physician, primary-care doctor 34%

Source: Consumer Reports Health Ratings Center

Patients with lower-back pain are faced with a confusing list of options. Our survey respondents tried an average of five or six different treatments over the course of just a year. We asked them to rate a comprehensive list of remedies (available to subscribers) and had enough data to rate 23 treatments. We analyzed the medical evidence for each and came up with recommendations and cautions. Here are some highlights from our survey findings:

Spinal injections (available to subscribers) were rated just below chiropractic treatments by those who took our survey. Fifty-one percent of the respondents found them to be very helpful, although the techniques their doctors used varied. Prescription medications (available to subscribers), which one-third of our respondents said they took, were rated as beneficial by 45 percent of them. Almost 70 percent said they took an over-the-counter medication, but only 22 percent said the drugs were very helpful. Fifty-eight percent told us they wished they had done more exercising to strengthen their backs.Although lower-back pain is the fifth most common reason people go to a doctor, 35 percent of the people in our survey said they had never consulted a professional. Most of them had severely limiting pain for less than a week. Many of those with more prolonged pain who didn’t see a health-care professional said,”… it was because of cost concerns or because they did not think professional care could help. “

The KISS Concept (Kinematic Imbalance due to Sub-occipital Strain)

The KISS concept was devised to incorporate the diverse symptoms I saw and treated in small children. The leading symptom is a fixed posture, sometimes a fixed lateral flexion, sometimes more a fixed retroflexion in combination with hypersensitivity of the upper neck area. For practical reasons it is useful to distinguish between KISS I (mainly fixed lateroflexion) and KISS II (primarily fixed retroflexion). Fig 4, Fig 5 give an overview of the findings found in these 2 models.

Fig 4.

KISS I clinical markers. Fixed lateroflexion: torticollis, unilateral microsomia, asymmetry of the skull, C-scoliosis of neck and trunk, asymmetry of gluteal area, asymmetry of motion of the limbs, retardation of motor development of one side.

Having treated children and infants for a number of years I was confronted with indications and therapies. Screening the relevant literature resulted in a large collection of publications, which were grouped around standard diagnoses and the various techniques of manual therapy/chiropractic/osteopathy used to treat them1, 2. Children belong to a “special population,” as the homonymous book implicates,78 but to assess the impact of functional disorders of vertebrogenic origin on the neuromotor development one has to integrate all these separate findings into a broader concept.

In many instances the techniques and indications of manual therapy are similar in children and in adults. The older children and adolescents become, the more their clinical picture is in line with what we know about adults. There are some differences in peripheral functional problems, but the bottom line is the same, such that, a local functional disorder with only limited, albeit sometimes strong, symptoms.

The “pulled elbow” (Chassaignac subluxation) of small children is such an example. A sudden pull at the extended arm of a toddler can result in a subluxation of the proximal head of the radius, which is trapped under the ligament annulare. The child’s arm hangs as if paralyzed and is not used. A simple adjustment is in most cases sufficient to revert this situation. This problem is child-specific, but does not have any impact beyond the local immobilization of the arm.

Other functional vertebrogenic disorders in small children are of different character. The effects of a local problem are felt far from their area of origin and may last much longer. The KISS concept does not intend to cover all instances of treatable spinal disorders, but to highlight those with a long-term harmful potential. This is important as many problems where children profit from an adjustment have unclear symptoms. Infantile headache, attention deficit disorder, or sensorimotor problems may be caused by a multitude of etiologic factors. To focus our efforts on children who may benefit from manual therapy, it is helpful to compare the individual case history with what is compiled as typical for KISS.

Fixed lateroflexion may be a trigger for pediatricians to ask for help from a manual therapy specialist. Other symptoms may be more important for the family, but these are less obviously connected to a functional vertebrogenic problem. Colic, for example, may be caused by KISS-related problems but pediatricians, midwives, and lactation consultants can only direct the families toward a specialist in MTC if they are aware of this possibility.

In many cases the 2 types of KISS overlap. One has to take into account that it is easier for a pediatrician to recognize the laterally fixed posture as pathological; however, the fixed retroflexion has to be actively searched for. Often it is best seen in the sleeping position of children (Fig 6, Fig 7). Initially I did not attribute much attention to this posturing. It was only after the parents reported spontaneously that their children slept much calmer and in a markedly more relaxed position that I became aware of the diagnostic importance of a fixed retroflexion of the head.

Fig 6.

A posture of fixed lateroflexion of KISS I. The left arm will be used more; therefore, the motor capabilities of this arm will be more advanced compared with the right arm. Often this asymmetry extends to the lower extremities and lead to an asymmetry of the gluteal furrows, which may be the first symptom observed by the pediatrician.

Fig 7.

The overextended sleeping position of KISS II. These children may have an orofacial hypotonia, which leads to sucking and swallowing problems. If these symptoms are combined with a fixed lateroflexion, these difficulties may lead to unilateral breast-feeding problems.

Through the observations of parents I then thought to check systematically if and how much I was able to relieve the pain of “crybabies” (ie, colic). Initially quite a few of these children were referred for the treatment of postural asymmetries and the accompanying colic was not mentioned by the parents during our interviews. In the questionnaire the parents are asked to return 6 weeks after their visit and they mentioned that the infants were much calmer and slept better.

By gently correcting somatic dysfunction in a child’s spine, both spinal cord tension and nerve irritation alleviates, and changes are observable in all aspects of life. The case study listed below demonstrates a common and interesting connection between body and brain (mind), specifically by influencing a somato-psychic response. Because the somato-psychic connection is innate, adults may potentially benefit as well .

Clinical Features: A female adolescent with recurring headaches and parasomnia (night terrors) presented for chiropractic care. The headaches and sleep disturbances had a negative affect on her academics, sports, and social life. Upon examination, she had abnormal postural findings indicating cervical, thoracic, and lumbar subluxations.

Intervention and Outcome: The patient was evaluated for postural abnormalities and palpatory muscle hypertonicity, segmental edema, and kinesiopathology during each visit. Postural abnormalities and associated vertebral subluxations were corrected using specific hands on adjusting techniques for a one month period. There was a reduction in headache symptoms and complete resolution of parasomnia (night terrors) following the start of treatment.

Conclusion: Sleep disturbances in children are common and often develop without explanation. To date, there are few interventions that help alleviate the negative affects of interrupted sleep on a child’s daily activities. Vertebral subluxation should be considered when a child is experiencing neuromusculoskeletal symptoms and sleep disturbances of otherwise unknown origin. More research is warranted to explore the benefits of chiropractic care in cases of parasomnia and sleep disturbances.

Cervicocranial symptoms include vertigo (dizziness), cephalea (headache), tinnitus (ringing ears), facial pain, otalgia (earache), dysphagia (difficulty swallowing), pain of the carotid artery (neck area). A lot of people experience a dull, constant throbbing at the base of the skull. This condition may be worsened by movement of the head and neck. It is caused by subluxated (dysfunctional) vertebrae in the neck and/or misaligned cranial bones.

HOW CAN CHIROPRACTIC HELP?

Treatment consists of specific chiropractic adjustments to the area at the base of the skull, the neck, and/or upper back. The treatment may also require additional supportive therapy to improve a patients health, but it is case dependent. Additional supportive therapies include but are not limited to trigger point therapy, doctor-assisted stretching techniques, and postural training.

“I have never been in an accident or hurt so…WHY DOES IT HAPPEN?”

Trauma to the area can be both acute (as a result of car accidents, falls, and/or blows to the head) and chronic (sedentary work i.e. elmentary to post-graduate students, years of football practice, nursing or long-wearing such as holding baby in arms, etc.).